


Ducks

by YouthIsWasted



Series: Hadestown Fics [6]
Category: Hadestown - Mitchell
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Funny, I wrote this from a randomly generated prompt, Orpheus is scared of ducks and you cannot change my mind
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-16
Updated: 2021-02-16
Packaged: 2021-03-18 21:13:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 876
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29496351
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YouthIsWasted/pseuds/YouthIsWasted
Summary: Eurydice wants to feed the ducks at the park. Orpheus has some reservations.
Relationships: Eurydice/Orpheus (Hadestown)
Series: Hadestown Fics [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1787488
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10





	Ducks

**Author's Note:**

> I finally wrote something again! Annika asked me if I was writing when we were on Zoom the other night, so I felt like I needed to write her something. But I had zero inspiration, so I used a random prompt generator and the first one that came up was “Eurydice and Orpheus throwing food for the ducks at the duck pond” so I knew I had to go with it. IYKYK.

The sun was beating down, casting shadows across the park on this warm August afternoon. Orpheus and Eurydice had been spending the day walking around the expansive park to celebrate their first anniversary. Orpheus had surprised her with a homemade picnic lunch and they decided that it would be fun to venture out to the larger park on the other side of town. They were currently walking, hand in hand, down the winding paths that crisscrossed the park. 

After about an hour of wandering, they had reached the edge of the large pond that was situated at the Northern edge of the park. Eurydice decided that this was the perfect spot to set up their picnic and excitedly pointed out a shady patch of grass under a tree. 

“Orpheus, look! It’s perfect! We can sit and watch the ducks while we eat.”

“Ducks? Are you sure?”

“Of course! Look at the little ducklings hopping at the edge of the water! They’re so cute!”

“If you’re sure…”

Orpheus carefully laid out the checkered blanket he had borrowed from Persephone while Eurydice started carefully pulling the sandwiches out of the picnic blanket. Orpheus had asked Hades for the recipe for Eurydice’s favorite chocolate chip cookies as well, and she couldn’t contain her excitement when she pulled them out. 

“‘Phe, you made my cookies?” she squealed, pulling one out of the container and taking a bite.

“Of course,” he laughed as he sat back on the blanket, “I know how much you love them.”

“Not as much as I love you,” she laughed, snuggling into his side and passing him his sandwich.

The young couple sat in relative silence while they enjoyed their lunch, spare the occasional “I love you” or giggle at the toddler who was stumbling around a nearby blanket. Eurydice spotted a duckling that was wandering towards them and excitedly turned to Orpheus to get his attention.

“Look! Look! It’s a little baby duck! Look at its fuzzy little head! Isn’t it the cutest thing you’ve ever seen?”

“Why is it coming towards us?”

“Oh Orpheus, he’s just a little baby! He’s probably hungry. Let’s offer him some of our bread!”

“No!” he yelled, suddenly standing up and backing away from the blanket.

“Love, what’s wrong? It’s just a duckling. It’s not going to hurt you.”

“How can you know?”

“‘Phe, are you afraid of ducks?” 

“What? No… That would be silly”

“Orpheus, tell me the truth. Are you afraid of ducks?”

“Maybe…” he mumbled.

“Oh Love. It’s okay. Will you come sit down with me? I promise I won’t let any ducks come near us.”

Orpheus hesitantly sat down at the far corner of the blanket. Eurydice carefully sat herself in his lap, feeling his body relax at the contact. They sat quietly for a few minutes, Eurydice resting her head on his chest. She waited until his heart rate had slowed back down before turning to face him. 

“Hi.”

“Hi.”

“So do you want to tell me why you’re so scared of ducks?”

“It’s a really long story…”

“We’ve got plenty of time,” she said, gesturing around at their surroundings.

Orpheus sighed but hesitantly began to explain. He told her about the ducks on Demeter’s farm and how Persephone used to drop him off there to be babysat while she worked. He pulled out his phone and found the picture from the summer he turned four of him sitting in a big lawn chair, squeezing a duck to his chest. He explained that this was Geraldine, his favorite duck who used to follow him all around the farm when he was a kid. Eurydice couldn’t hold back her giggle when she saw the fuzzy-headed little boy practically strangling this poor duck. 

“Geraldine was my best friend. We did everything together. I even used to dress her up in doll clothes and push her around in a stroller. She had been in my life as long as I could remember. But then when I was seven, she died. I was crushed. But we got more ducks, so I tried to play with them the same way I did with Geraldine. But these ones were mean. They wouldn’t let anyone pick them up or carry them around. One day, I tried to pick up one of them and he bit me right on the nose. I’ve been scared of ducks ever since.”

Eurydice tried to hide her laughter, but she couldn’t help herself when a small chuckle escaped. She wrapped her arms around Orpheus and kissed his nose.

“I love you even if you think ducks are scary,” she laughed.

“And I love you even if you think ducks are cute,” he replied, returning her kiss.

“Do you want to go home?”

“If you want to go feed the ducks, I’ll wait here. Just promise you’ll be careful.”

“I promise,” she answered, kissing her boyfriend once more before running towards the water with the rest of her sandwich.

Orpheus sat back with a cookie and watched Eurydice giggle as she fed the ducks. He remained on-guard, just in case a duck should attack, but he couldn’t help but smile at the pure joy radiating off of his girlfriend’s face. Maybe ducks weren’t so bad after all.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on tumblr @bloomsinthebittersnow


End file.
